The Excalibur Night Club
Hi. This page is for information and links about Chicago and it's Suburbs ghost stories. Many of the stories here are paraphrased from the book " Chicago Haunts: Ghostly Lore of the Windy City," by Ursula Bielski. The book can be obtained from Lake Claremont Press LakeClarPr@aol.com Some of these links lead to information on other sites. Two other sources for my material are Ghost of the Prarie Web Page Graveyards of Chicago and some of the places can be found in Dennis Hauck's "Haunted Places." Lots of the places listed below are open to the public. Please check back for updates. You can email me your own stories to ghostlly@yahoo.com
Chicago's Gangsterland Ghost Stories Page:
These are two of Chicago's haunted nightclubs.
Hangee-Uppe is located on 14 West Elm, and Cabaret Metro an old Theater on the lake is located on 3730 North Clarke. Cabaret Metro's upper floor is haunted
This nightclub was once a slaughterhouse. It is said to be haunted by the spirits of the slaughtered animals. It is located on 1248 West George St.
There have been many sightings of a mysterious ghost light that floats breifly over the lake then disapears. The light has never been explained. Legend connects it with an accident in which a man was decapitated. It is located between 104th Avenue and Archer Avenue along the canal in Willow Springs.
The grave of a young girl is said to have healing powers. It gives off the mysterious odor of roses. Mary Alice Quinn lies here at age 14. She is said to have healed several people before she died. It is located in Worth at the junction of 115th and 111th streets.
This place is reported to be haunted by haunting footsteps and a odd feeling of presence. Customers sometimes reported being touched by an unseen ghost. A waitress was almoast pushed down the stairs by an invisible force that left fingerprints on her wrist. A bartender saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes. Two unsolved murders took place in the alley beside the restaurant. It is located at 1610 North Wells in the Old Town neighborhood. Also see Chicao's Old Whitechapel Club.
A sightings episode a while back featured a haunted apartment building in Justice, Il. The apartment building is surrounded by cemetaries. A resident there named Valarie Kolacki experienced strange events in her apartment. She frequently looked out into the kitchen and saw the shadow of a tall man standing there. She did not feel threatened by the ghost. She felt the ghost was looking after her. Dale Kaczmarek of the Ghost Research Society investigated the haunting. Neighbors reported the ghost of a man in the laundry room in the basement. Dale found tombstones hidden under the shrubery under Ms. Kolacki's window. The names on the tombstones can not be found on any records of the area. There may be graves under the apartment building.
Located in Crown Point Indiana. This building has been reported to be haunted for many years. Strange voices and sounds are often heard in the old jail located inside the courthouse where Dillinger once was incarcerated.
In Hammond indiana stands an old 1020's stone mansion. It was deserted by a herbal company that once used it as a headquarters. It is haunted by the white spectere of a female ghost who was once the owner. It is located at 626 177th Street in Hammond Indiana. A haunted house show is held at the property in October.
Note:
Mail from Gabrina MollyMEOWS@aol.com
I live right by the old botanical gardens and I can tell you that the woman seen there isn't the owner. That would make her one of the Meyers and she wasn't. She worked for the company in the 1920's when a massive fire gutted a good portion of the building. She and another woman supposedly died in the fire. Its a well known fact that there was a fire and there is still evidence of the burning BUT there is nothing in the papers reporting it. The Meyers were prominent in the community and wouldn't allow it to be printed. Believe me, I spent a lot of time in the library looking!
I also have some place you may want to add in Indiana...I didn't see the Gypys's Graveyard in CP listed, Salesians Prep School in Cedar Lake, or The Bieker House in Munster.
Located south of Hammond at 8711 Cottage Grove Road Highland Indiana is a church that does exorcisms.
At the corner of tenth and I street in LaPorte Indiana used to stand a three story mansion built by a doctor named George Andrew. The house was haunted by the spirit of a Indian girl who died at the spot when the indians were forced to move west. The mansion was torn down after no one would live in it because of the haunting. A medical center was later built on the spot. Strange things continue to happen there.
Located in Portage Indiana a family living in this 150yr old house are haunted by the spirit of a little girl that they call lisa. She has appeared throughout the house.
There is a spot on the road in Watseka where if you flash your lights three times you will see a ball of light come tword your car.
In Manteno there is an old abandoned state mental hospital from the 1890's that is now being refurbished as comercial buildings. It is said to be haunted by the tortured souls of the mentaly disturbed that died there. The mental institute was shut down because of the barbaric treatment of the inmates there. Unsubstantiated rumor has it that criminally insane were housed here and some of them executed in an electric chair on the premesis. There are also said to be tunnels running below the old buildings that run all the way to the downtown area of Manteno. It is located east of Manteno in the diversatch industrial park.
Kemper hall is located in Kenosha north of chicago. Its said to be very haunted. I dont have a lot of details on the haunting. but it might be worth checking into.
Somewhere in northern cook county in whats now part of a county preserve once stood a school. A maniac supposedly went into the school and went bezerk killing and beheading several students and hanging their heads on the gate. I can't verify the story, but the gate does exist and there once stood a school behind it. so maybe there is something behind it.
Crown Point Indiana
Crown Point County Jail (the old jail, not the new one) where theres a ghost dog and people here doors slamming and inmates talking.
"Rose Room". As the story goes, a young girl was deathly ill, and her parents placed fresh roses in her bedroom each day to help keep her spirits up. She died, but the tale has it that the pungent smell of roses frequently fills her old room. The only problem with this story (which apparently goes back several decades) is that, while we have pinpointed the neighborhood, we cannot determine the exact house, much less the actual room. Tora9@aol.com
submitted by Rosemary
Trenton, Il about "Rhoda's Grave" no details available
submitted by Rosemary
Highland, Illinois area
another story about a bridge in this area that if you go there at night you can see a man hanging.
submitted by Rosemary
Palmer House Hilton downtown haunted no details available
Monger Road Carol Stream IL. monger rd is by hw53 and army trail rd
Info submitted by April Cobb aprilc@inil.com
i just thought of another weird story to tell you that happened to someone i know...thats 3...and monger rd....monger 1st....ok 1st i don't know how to research this on the computer but after i type this i am going to try, there should be something on chicago urban legends or something since alot of people i know are aware of this...monger rd is a narrow, bumpy rd bordered on one side by a forest preserve, wetlands type area and the other side has 2 houses, spaced quite a ways apart..you cannot see one house from another....lots of trees and no streetlites...it feels like you have stepped back in time or at least gone 50 miles out into the country..it looks like something from the x-philes...(best viewed at nite) the 1st house is really strange looking...very small, with spotlites around it and a high chain link fence..(are they bothered by sightseers, or is it more?) it must be a recluse or a fruitloop that lives there cause the yard is waaay overgrown, but it looks like it is occupied...very rundown....but thats not the house that is supposed to be haunted.. its the next house you come accross...it looks more normal...a white 2 story farmhouse..in better shape then the previous house...big yard..the legend gos there used to be a group of satanists who practiced they're ceremonies there in the 60's or 70's and some very evil things were done there...its all very creepy at nite as this is when i was taken there , people tell you the stories and when you go down the road stop the car..i admit it scared me..but i saw nothing. then a friend of mine called me up later and told me he had painted the house on the inside recently..(he worked as a interior house painter) and he knew i would be interested in this....and if he had to go back to touch up or anything he would take me as his "assistant" or something, but he never did....anyway while he was out there he was talking to the owner, she was a nice middle aged lady, who had owned it for about 5 years and she told him it was haunted, and showed him some materials where the house had been featured on sightings or unsolved myst. or one of those, and she had seen it 1st hand...radios turned off and on by theirselves..lights, and one time her teenage daughter was over with friends and she gave the girls 1 glass of wine. and the glass dumped its-self over ..like the ghost didn't want the teenager to drink...monger rd is by hw53 and army trail rd....let me know if any of your friends have heard of this...oh by the way my painter friend said the house gave him the creeps..he kept thinging someone was behind him watching him but when he would turn around expecting the lady or her daughter there would be no one there...he left before dark every day he was there..and hes a biiig guy 6'3''and scared of no one....
Note: another version of the haunting at Monger road places the haunting in the other house and yet another version of the haunting on monger road claims the haunting is at the railroad tracks where a boy was hung.
Dunning Square Shopping Mall
located at Irving Park Rd. and Naragansett. a District Manager of one of the stores there, and the Manager and staff claim that very bizarre things have happened in past years. Somehow they received information that the center was built over the site of mass burials, due to an epidemic, which occurred in the 1800s. They also claim that an area psychic came in without prior knowledge of some of the odd happenings, and told the manager that there was a vortex in the corner of the store. submitted by LSchwa2709@aol.com
St. Joseph Catholic cemetery: reported satanic hauntings in Satan's woods near the cemetery. submitted by CHEFRSKI@aol.com
"There is a miniature golf course in Palatine, Ill., that is located in the basement of Ahlgrim's Funeral Home. The course, which includes obstacles such as coffins and headstones, is closed when wakes are in progress."
(USA Today, 09-02-1999, pp 13C.)
Abandoned Ovaltine Factory in Villa Park.
It is said (by rumor) that some very bad things happened there. I have been inside long ago and there was still evidence of devil worship. Lights are sometimes seen through the windows at night even though there is no electricity. The basement if flooded. There are rumors of bodies in the flooded basement. Some workers were rumored to have died there falling through a hole in the floor.
DG drakos79@hotmail.com
Victory Christian Academy
some people in my school say that they have seen ghost in our schools chapel
Gail Bowling
Vampire Graves,
(note: this is quoted from a newsletter by
Troy Taylor)
""VAMPIRES IN ILLINOIS?
My friend Jack Calve is always great about
sending me new material and this story comes
round-about from another friend
as well, author Rosemary Ellen Guiley. Jack
sent this item with a heading of “Some stories
you might be interested
in”....
Rumors of vampires and of dead dogs drained of
blood persist at a cemetery in Spring Valley,
Illinois. In 1967, two
teenagers broke into the crypt of three
well-to-do bachelor butchers, the Massock
brothers, and stole the head from one
of the corpses. Police arrested the teens, but
incidents continued. In “The Complete Vampire
Companion“, author
Rosemary Ellen Guiley reports that in the
1980s, a Vietnam veteran and friends
encountered a gaunt, pale figure in the
graveyard. The veteran shot the figure at
point blank range five times, to no effect. It
approached them and they
ran.
Later, a Chicago writer gathered a party and
investigated, and turned to the crypt. They
rapped on the crypt's door
and received no response. They poked a stick
into a small vent. A black and wormy thing
shot out from the
hole and coiled up on the ground, whereupon the
party fled. They returned at dusk, with holy
water, and emptied it
into the hole. To their astonishment, a
"painful groaning" was heard from within.""
Iorn Gate Restaurant
Clinton IL,
by "R. Dean Ludden"
From: Meggo518@aol.com
Subject: I know I different story to The Red Lion
To: ghostlly@yahoo.com
I live and go to school in Lincoln Park, a short distance from The Red
Lion.
I heard the haunting go a different way. It goes something like this:
In the
apatments upstairs during WWII (I think or at the time of the 20s or
early
immigration) all the women would leave the children at home with an
elderly
women to look after them. The mothers would go to work, either for the
war or
an immigrants salary because it depends on who you talk to. On this day
they
left there was a fire. The elderly women didn't know what to do, so she
made
the children sit in the corner. They all died, but the old lady's ghost
still
huants the pub trying to contact the parents to tell them she is sorry,
but
their children are dead. I have experienced a ghost there and believe
it to
be true.
From:scott bitner
From: Rdstrabrysck@aol.com
Subject: Other stories that I would love to share with you
Hi My name is Jenna and I live in the northern part of lake county.
Right
now the only thing that I could find about my area were about white
cemetary.
Trust me there is a lot more that has happened on Cuba Rd alone. From
this
rd you could write a book. There is the salt factory, the train tracks
that
run parrallel to Northwest Hwy, from what I hear (never seen myself)
the kkk
has a spot up there, the disapearing barn in the corn field, the glass
house,
the bridge (a girl from stevenson hs jumped from), if you have ever
taken a
ride by your self there is a corvett and a mustang that come up behind
you
with their brights on once you go to flip the rear view mirror they
disappear
and the people that live there have really long driveways and really
high
fences (that has alwaysed made me wonder what they know that I don't).
Next
we have Rainbow Rd, which is right off of Cuba rd. To start off with
there
is an old insane assylum (not sure if still active[lights go on and
off])
supposively they had some patients escape,Dr Tibol was one of the Dr's
that
worked at the assylum trying to calm/ talk a patient into letting him
help
and take him back he was killed (that story I'm not sure if it's true
or not)
but you can see his name written on the road right in front of the
glass
house, Rainbow rd is very hard to keep track of there are different
roads
you can turn off of, I like going on it, but once we were lost for an
hour
on all of the back roads, the other thing about Rainbow Rd is it's very
hilly. Once you get to the top of a hill all you can see are the trees
in
front of you and the road below you. Last thing you have nothing on
the
Mineola hotel in Fox Lake, this was a place where Al Capone hung out.
Pete
Jakstas owns the hotel now, but the old owner Edmund Howard is said to
haunt
the old hotel. ED was found laying on the bar, he lay there for two
days
before his body was discovered. They has been renovating the hotel
back to
all it's old beautiful glory and Ed has been knocking things over and
turns
on the lights. My family knows the owners that's why I know so much
about
it. My Dad restored all of the windows in the ballroom. Please e-mail
me if
you would like more information on the stories I have told you about.
(NAME) Karen Cunningham
(EMAIL) StyxLady22@aol.com
(Location) Brookfield, Illinois
(STORYNAME) Red Light at Maple Lake
(Story)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Off of 95th st just down the road from Hickory Hills Il. is a wide area
of forest preserves. THis one forest preserve in particular is called
Maple Lake.
In the summer they have boat rentals and such for people to fish or
just relax.
Off of the 2 lane winding road by the entrance you can see the lake as
you drive by. One night I had brought my friend, who was visiting from
New York,out to the woods. It was a cold January night. It was late,
about 12:30 am. Nobody else was out there besides us. As were passing
Maple Lake, I slowed down to look across the lake. THere was a red
light coming from the other side of the shore. I told my friend, "Who the
heck is out on a night like this?" So I pulled into the entrance and
before I knew it the light was right next to where we were. My friend
had asked who that was? I said, "I don't know but whoever it is, is
crazy let's get out of here!" I turned the car around and went home. It
had looked like somebody in a boat, a regular boat with no motor. I
couldn't see their face, just the light. A week later my parents had
gone to a discussion held by Richard Crowe. A famous ghost hunter. He
had said it was a man looking for his head. I don't know any othe!
r accounts to the story or how this aparition came about. I had no
idea at the time what it was about. Boy, it was scary and interesting at
the same time!!!!
If you have any questions, please e-mail me. THanks Karen
Kraft totem pole
Grimes Murder Scene
German Church Road
Sausage King
reference
Lake Shore Drive and Addison
The original lincoln park totem pole made by indians and very old showed signs of the faces and position of the animals on the totem changing over the years. Old photographs prove these mysterious happpenings. The old totem was damaged by protestors and is in storage. The new totem is identical to the old one.
County Line Rd. and 83rd Street, Burr Ridge
On this streach of road a re-enactment of the grisly dumping of bodies was scene and also heard by several witnesses. Sometimes a phantom car is also seen. The murder occured in Jan 1957 and remains unsolved.
Corner of Diversey and Hermitage, Chicago, Ill.
In 1897, Adolf Leutgert, the Sausage
King, allegedly murdered his beautiful wife, Louisa, Her body was never found. Only a strange Gellatin substance and her rings in the old sausage factory. Some people think she was ground up into sausage. It is known that Adolf was having an affair and had an argument with his wife shortly before his wife disapeared. Louisa's ghostly apparition is seen not in the factory but in their home.
Anyone having more information about chicago haunted sites Email me at ghostlly@yahoo.com in the meantime.
Please come back soon and visit me.
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